Vitoria, Jan 30 (EFE).- Only 1% of women work on site in the construction sector in the Basque Country, an invisible problem.
This is revealed by a study by the Bilbao architect Ane Alonso. The report, presented by the author and the director of Emakunde, Miren Elgarresta, draws on testimonies from women plumbers, carpenters or painters.
In Euskadi there are 53,000 construction workers and the presence of women is barely 8%. If the more manual works that are carried out directly on site are considered, the percentage is reduced to 1%.
This extreme segregation in the sector is “an invisible and normalized problem”, explains the architect.
There is no awareness of the problem
There is no collective awareness in the sector and in society that there is a problem, and there are no demands for improvement or intervention to progressively reverse the existing imbalance.
“It seems that no one is surprised that there is a labor sector, such as construction, in which women are excluded,” the study emphasizes. It warns that this problem is not on any political agenda, neither of feminism nor much less of the construction sector.
The testimonies of the women interviewed reveal discriminatory situations. “When we started the degree they told us that painting companies want girls because they are cleaner, more careful, they don’t stain as much.” But she adds that this is a sexist argument that is also later dismantled because when they look for internships “companies don’t want girls.”
«As a coordinator in the works I have found a lot of machismo. To look at you as if you did not know anything just because you are a woman, ”denounces a wallpaperer.
The stereotype of physical strength
Another of the barriers that prevent women from accessing the construction sector are stereotypes about the need for physical strength, the dirtiness of the job, the assumption of risks and the hostility of the environment between men.
However, thanks to the use of machinery and technological advances, most jobs on the construction site today do not require large doses of force.
They also do not stain more than other dirty jobs, they are not noisier than a nightclub, and the occupational safety regulations regulate so that it is not necessary to be particularly daring or brave, he explains.
Construction: There is a lack of female references
The absence of referents in which to feel identified is another of the impediments that women perceive.
The sum of these factors means that those who, despite everything, dare to enter the sector, are condemned to work twice as hard as in other professions and as men.
However, the report makes it clear that the fact of being a clearly masculinized sector translates into better working conditions and economic remuneration than other more feminized ones.
In addition, construction is a market niche that concentrates 15 out of every 100 new jobs that women are not being able to take advantage of. Hence the importance of promoting the presence of female workers in this sector, concludes the study. EFE
